In Raleigh, the Hurricanes chase for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division took a hit on Thursday night in a 4-1 loss to the Boston Bruins. 
The Canes remain five points back of the New York Rangers for first in the Metro.
On the flip side, the Bruins got to within one point of the Rangers for the Eastern Conference lead.
The Bruins scored three times in the opening stanza to take control of the game.
Jeremy Swayman made 28 saves in the win.
“The guys in front of me are doing a great job of boxing out and allowing me to see the first shot,” Swayman said. “And I’m just trying to do my job with putting rebounds in good areas.”
The Bruins improved to 45-17-15 off their third straight win.
“I’m really pleased with tonight’s win,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. “In the first period, we executed really well. We caught them on some odd-man rushes and made some high-end plays, led by our captain.”
Brad Marchand scored his 400th career NHL goal at 2:12 of the opening stanza to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
“Lately, I tried not to think about it. Obviously, it was kind of an elephant in the room, (so) nice to get it,” Marchand said. “It’s nice that we had a really good game to follow it up. I try not to think about things that I’ve done while I’m still playing. There’s much larger goals, and hopefully there’s still plenty more. I’ll reminisce at the end.”
David Pastrnak pushed the lead to 2-0 at 7:42, scoring off a a shot from the goal line on the left side.
“I got it on the boards and I was looking at what’s open,” Pastrnak said. “(Then) I was going towards the net, and I saw an open line. So, I tried to make a quick move to the forehand to move Andersen to the far side, and it worked out perfectly.”
Danton Heinen stretched the lead to 3-0 midway through the first. scoring off a deflection of a shot from the right side.
The Hurricanes dropped to 47-22-7.
In the middle frame, Jake Guentzel trimmed the deficit to 3-1 at 15:12, scoring off a two-skater power play.
Hampus Lindholm iced the win for Boston when he hit an empty net at 17:49 for the 4-1 final count on the scoreboard. 
Frederik Andersen made 24 saves in the loss.
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